History Error
by Man Called True
Summary: This story will never be updated. The reason is simple: I don't know what I planned to do with it. Enjoy it as it is: a tale of the beginning of an alternate history and its possible extension.
1. Diverted Pathways

History Error

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ape Escape, any characters within it, or anything connected to it; all such things belong to Ubi Soft.

It was cold, and it hadn't gotten warmer all month as modern humans measure time.  He had stalked the monkey through several snow dunes, using his custom boots – the ones that didn't leave footprints, even in three feet of dust.  His target was just beyond the frozen lake.

Switching to his special nail-bottom boots, the tracker strode easily across the ice.  The man wasn't even breathing all that hard, and he had chased the monkey for over twenty hours.  He didn't feel very cold, due to a special technique he had learned in a monastery somewhere in the Himalayas.  The mountains were always colder than these long plains.  Maybe he would go back to the monastery later, after his mission; he would need some time to clear his skull, and – 

_SQUELCH._

The tracker's boots met up with a banana peel, and he went down, his back kissing the icy top of the lake.  Using another trick from the monks, he dulled the pain in seconds, and then rose to his feet.  Now he knew his prey was in range.

As if the cold wasn't enough, the first flakes of snow began to reach the ground.  Ignoring it, the tracker reached soil again, followed by a quick change of boots.  Once in his stalking boots, he set out after the monkey.

His target had spent its time chasing small snow-rats through the plain.  It was one of the reasons they didn't survive the Ice Age; the furry little creatures all had heart attacks.  The monkey only slowed down in order to eat a banana; this one had a near-bottomless supply in its pockets.

There it was.  Dropping into a crawl, the tracker readied his net-cannon.  With one shot, that stupid primate would be back in the zoo.  He silently slid over the snow, making his way to the monkey.  Within seconds, he was there.

The idiotic creature didn't even realize the tracker was in range until it received a rap over the helmet with a stun baton.  Having landed the hit, the tracker flipped to his net-cannon and aimed.

Before he could fire, some kid jumped out of a temporal portal, gave the monkey a redundant hit with _his_ stun baton, and slammed a net over it.  The monkey shrieked and vanished.

With a cry of frustration, the tracker switched off the "time" function on his net-cannon and fired at the kid.  It caught the brat in its mesh and stuck him to a nearby boulder.

Stomping over, the tracker yelled, "What business do you have catching MY bounty?"

The kid shook his head and replied, "Bounty?  I'm catching those monkeys to save history!"

In a rage, the tracker knocked a snow-rat aside with his stun baton.  "You just cost me ten thousand dollars.  TEN GRAND!  And that was without expenses!  What sort of idiot are you, and quite frankly, what the hell are you doing catching other people's targets?"  Something else rose in his mind.  "And how in the name of Mammon did you GET here?"

The kid pulled at the net.  In response, the tracker shut off the net and pointed his stun baton at the younger fellow.  "I'm here under the Professor's orders.  My name's Spike, and I'm trying to stop Specter from rewriting history."

The tracker recognized the kid's name, but what reached him was the mention of Specter.  He lowered his stun baton and helped Spike up.  "My name's Blackwell.  I'm a bounty hunter, and that monkey you caught was my assignment.  What year are you from?"  If it matched…

Spike dusted off the back of his T-shirt.  Despite the mind-killing cold, he seemed perfectly warm.  "I'm from 1998."

So it _was_ the Spike Blackwell was thinking of.  "I'm from 2179.  People like me make a good living capturing the apes you missed, but somebody keeps snapping up my targets before I can net them.  It's gotten beyond the point of annoying, and I thought you were the guy who keeps stealing my monkeys.  Oh, well… so, what brings you here?"

Spike used his stun baton to knock off part of the boulder, rolled a flat side to the top, and sat down.  "I beat up Specter, but he escaped.  I've started capturing what remains of his servants, but it hasn't gone too well."  He then began to reel off his last few captures.

As he listened, Blackwell suddenly realized why his capture ratio was so low.  Almost every one of the captures Spike listed were the same as the targets Blackwell had missed.  This little punk was snagging Blackwell's bounties!  If that didn't deserve a good thrashing, what did?

Blackwell quietly readied his net-cannon.  In 2179, Specter ruled the world.  He liked to hire bounty hunters to capture rebellious monkeys – the ones that threatened his rule.  Blackwell had enjoyed the honor of being one of Specter's favorite trackers – until Spike started intercepting his targets.  The target he had tracked through the Ice Age was his last chance; if he blew it, the end of his career, freedom, _and_ life loomed.  Now the kid who was ruining his life sat not two feet away from him. If he could nab his boss' worst enemy…

On the side of the net-cannon, there were several dials.  One was the "time" function on/off switch.  Another controlled the destination.  It was currently set to "City – Zoo/Dungeon".  With an unseen movement, Blackwell turned the dial to "Peak Point Matrix".

Spike had just finished reciting his captures.  He turned to Blackwell and asked, "So, what's your most recent capture?"

Blackwell replied, "My last capture was Spike from 1998."

With that, he raised the net-cannon and fired at point-blank range.

The net struck Spike and carried him for about fifty yards before it teleported through time.

History records that the monkeys took over the planet in 1999, after the only man fighting against them suddenly vanished.  Afterward, the world was ruled by Specter, who was given the secrets of immortality by a man named Dr. Faust on the ruler's 15th birthday.

What history doesn't record is that all this occurred because an error in history – the accidental meeting of Blackwell and Spike, the sheer coincidence of Spike having captured Blackwell's prey, Blackwell working for Specter – came about.  Sometimes, when someone forgets to edit history, things like this happen.

But is history set?  Is it impossible to change?  Was this error actually an error?

If the answers to the first two questions are "Yes", and the answer to the last question is "No", I'll have to change the title.


	2. Jimmy's Letter

Chapter 2: Jimmy's Letter

Disclaimer: All disclaimers are the same as in Chapter One.  Warning: character death ahead.

The pounding had started a little while ago, and Jimmy knew he didn't have much time.  Grabbing a piece of paper from the lab's records, and taking a pen from the entertainment center, he began to write:

"Natalie:

            According to the Professor's calendar, it would be three years to the day today that Spike defeated Specter.  By now, I'd be fighting him again, judging by the Time-Tracker.  It's weird, how fate works…

            The Professor's gotten out of here.  He took Pipochi and warped to the 'safe house' – I can't specify where, in case the monkeys get their hands on this.  He told me to stand guard; we can't let the monkeys get their hands on the Type 2 Gotcha Gear.  I've hidden them in case I don't make it out alive.

            I still remember the day Spike disappeared.  The Professor showed us all the Time-Tracker, explaining how it traced the various timelines.  We all saw how it should have gone, how Spike should have beaten Specter…   All of it.  That's when the monkeys made their first attack.

            We beat them that day, but it never stopped.  They had footholds in most of history, not to mention the present.  You told me that yourself – how they could change the past at any moment, and only we would know, because we were outside the new timeline.  You told me a lot of things, back then.

            Even as I write this, I can hear them battering the emergency doors with something called the 'Logic Probe'.  That's right, some of them speak Human now.  I can hear at least one human out there.  What sort of human would work with these beasts?

            Natalie, you probably won't get this letter – I don't think the monkeys will spare me; they've gotten more vicious the longer Specter's been in control.  I'll take as many as I can with me, though.  And they won't get the Past-Modifier, either – I already hit the 'conceal' switch; it's somewhere in time, now.  Before I go, I have one thing I want to tell you.

            Right before Spike left for the Ice Age and never came back, he gave me a phone call.  We gabbed for a bit, and then he told me about you, and about his feelings.

            Spike loved you, Natalie. He told me as much, how he was too afraid to tell you, how he wasn't sure if he was just too young to know.  Now that it's too late, I'm sorry I never told you sooner.

            I can hear the door giving way, so now it's time to fight.  Those filthy apes will never take me alive…

            - Jimmy"

***

            The laboratory was in ruins now.  The monkeys had smashed it to pieces, searching for the various bits of technological wizardry that the Professor was known for.  Nothing was there – the place was empty.

            As the monkeys fought with each other over the few bits of shiny metal that were still in the lab, the only human among them was searching the body of Jimmy, one of those who defied Specter.  Reaching into one of the pockets on the young boy's jacket, the man withdrew a folded piece of paper.  Flipping it open, he read the last thoughts of the boy who had killed five of the monkeys.

            "How very interesting," was Blackwell's final assessment of the letter as he folded it once more and slid it into his pocket.  Reaching down, he picked up the corpse of his defeated opposite.  "What was the Past-Modifier, Jimmy?  Or are you beyond telling me now?"  
            No response came from the body, so Blackwell tossed it into the entertainment center, smashing the shelves.  "No matter," the bounty hunter told himself.  "Just removing Specter's other old nemesis was worth it.  That makes both of them…"

            Checking his machine gun again, he pulled a camera from his pocket and took a quick picture of Jimmy's body, just as proof.  With that done, he took a small ball from his pocket.

            "Time Transfer, open the gate to Peak Point Matrix," he ordered.  A ring of light appeared from nowhere, and Blackwell and the monkeys headed home…


End file.
